Visitor moorings at Saltaire

[Victor Vectis]

The canal is for ALL - boaters, walkers, cyclists and residents.

But ALL don't pay £775.92 per annum, prompt payment discount included, to CaRT do they?

 

I do and thus object to one who does not telling me where and where not I can moor my boat.

 

(You just don't get it, do you?)

[SaltsLad]

So how would you view me mooring there, I don't run my engine as my solar panels provide all power needed.

What possible disruption could I cause, ?

There is NO problem if there's no smoke/fumes or excessive noise - and what may seem normal/low level noise can be much louder because of the "canyon effect". Some people seem to think I'm anti-boats, but I'm not. I'm anti anti-social behaviour, which comes from a very small minority of users (probably inexperienced ones). It is laughable that some people seem to think that raising concerns is a blanket criticism. Incidentally, for those people saying they would put their own pin/stake/whatever into the ground befpre the mooring rings were installed, it's solid concrete with gravel on it there.

But ALL don't pay £775.92 per annum, prompt payment discount included, to CaRT do they?

 

I do and thus object to one who does not telling me where and where not I can moor my boat.

 

(You just don't get it, do you?)

I pay road tax - but that doesn't mean I can park just exactly where I want. We're talking about a matter of yards! Is that SUCH an inconvenience?

[Guest]

There is NO problem if there's no smoke/fumes or excessive noise - and what may seem normal/low level noise can be much louder because of the "canyon effect". Some people seem to think I'm anti-boats, but I'm not. I'm anti anti-social behaviour, which comes from a very small minority of users (probably inexperienced ones). It is laughable that some people seem to think that raising concerns is a blanket criticism. Incidentally, for those people saying they would put their own pin/stake/whatever into the ground befpre the mooring rings were installed, it's solid concrete with gravel on it there.

I pay road tax - but that doesn't mean I can park just exactly where I want. We're talking about a matter of yards! Is that SUCH an inconvenience?

 

I wasn't talking about what the ground is like I was talking about what it was like before the work you describe was done.

 

I know what it's like now as I've moored there.

[SaltsLad]

I wasn't talking about what the ground is like I was talking about what it was like before the work you describe was done.

 

I know what it's like now as I've moored there.

Half of it is as it was, with gravel on concrete.

[Victor Vectis]

I pay road tax - but that doesn't mean I can park just exactly where I want.

Yes it does, as long as you vehicle is taxed, Mot'ed, insured and street legal.

 

Except where you can't, zebra crossings, yellow lines etc etc etc.

 

The waterway analogy being lock landings, waterpoints, time restricted moorings etc.

 

(But then you don't use the waterway in a boat, do you, so I don't expect you to comperhend this)

[Guest]

Half of it is as it was, with gravel on concrete.

 

So I would have got pins in the bit that wasn't.

 

Sorted.

[Victor Vectis]

I know what it's like now as I've moored there.

You anti social person you!

 

[SaltsLad]

So I would have got pins in the bit that wasn't.

 

Sorted.

Would you have put ropes right across the towpath then to the small bit of scrubland by the wall? What is now concrete with gravel on was concrete with gravel before!

[Nightwatch]

I ask, with the greatest respect, do you understand these sentences? "....proposals to increase the number of moorings (WHICH I WELCOME)" and "The canal is for ALL - boaters, walkers, cyclists and residents."

I won't be in the area when these proposed additional moorings have been created. I would like to stay near to the mill and adjoining attractions. Presently I can't cause a number of relatively new residents do not like boats being around their residences.

 

Therefore the bit you can't get to grips with, is that me,my wife and boats are not welcome. Titus wouldn't be happy. He built his mill and adjoining village next to the canal deliberately to have boats to transport supplies and products to and from his business.

 

Look out for me passing through Saltaire in the next week or two.

 

Martyn

[SaltsLad]

Lots of sarcastic and facaetious comments - but no-one's been able to explain several points to me:

1) While mooring's allowed pretty much anywhere EXCEPT where there are signs to the contrary, why is it acceptable to moor overnight by one which specifically says NO OVERNIGHT MOORING?

2) Why is a few yards further away SUCH an inconvenience?

3) Why is what decent people consider to be anti-social behaviour deemed to be acceptable by some people just because they pay to use the canal?

 

Some people are clearly getting wound up - live and let live!

[Guest]

Lots of sarcastic and facaetious comments - but no-one's been able to explain several points to me:

1) While mooring's allowed pretty much anywhere EXCEPT where there are signs to the contrary, why is it acceptable to moor overnight by one which specifically says NO OVERNIGHT MOORING?

2) Why is a few yards further away SUCH an inconvenience?

3) Why is what decent people consider to be anti-social behaviour deemed to be acceptable by some people just because they pay to use the canal?

 

Some people are clearly getting wound up - live and let live!

I seem to recall there is dubious status to that particular sign. CRT's ability to arbitrarily decide where boaters can and can't moor is debatable.

 

As for people getting wound up and needing to 'live and let live'.

 

Well what can one say?

[Nightwatch]

Can you arrange for the signs to be removed so that I can spend money in Saltaire and moor there.

[SaltsLad]

I won't be in the area when these proposed additional moorings have been created. I would like to stay near to the mill and adjoining attractions. Presently I can't cause a number of relatively new residents do not like boats being around their residences.

 

Therefore the bit you can't get to grips with, is that me,my wife and boats are not welcome. Titus wouldn't be happy. He built his mill and adjoining village next to the canal deliberately to have boats to transport supplies and products to and from his business.

 

Look out for me passing through Saltaire in the next week or two.

 

Martyn

Enjoy your trip - and there are places to moor either side of the apartments. It's not a case of not liking boats. It's a case of not liking excessive noise and fumes/smoke coming into my home.

[Guest]

Would you have put ropes right across the towpath then to the small bit of scrubland by the wall? What is now concrete with gravel on was concrete with gravel before!

Only if I snared a couple of flat residents.......

[David Mack]

Some people are clearly getting wound up - live and let live!

Err... Pot, kettle?

[SaltsLad]

Can you arrange for the signs to be removed so that I can spend money in Saltaire and moor there.

The Managing Company for the apartments has previously offered to pay for clearer, non-contradictory signs. You can moor there during the day - there are other places just yards either side of the building to moor overnight.

[Victor Vectis]

The Managing Company for the apartments has previously offered to pay for clearer, non-contradictory signs. You can moor there during the day - there are other places just yards either side of the building to moor overnight.

Well that's very generous................offering the use of a facility that does not belong to you.

 

I take it from what you say you have tried to moor a boat overnight in Saltaire. No? Perhaps you should try it sometime. I seem to recall we had great difficulty and ended up moored, badly, hanging off the end of the ice cream boat.

Edited July 27, 2016 by Victor Vectis

[SaltsLad]

Well that's very generous................offering the use of a facility that does not belong to you.

 

I take it from what you say you have tried to moor a boat overnight in Saltaire. No? Perhaps you should try it sometime. I seem to recall we had great difficulty and ended up moored, badly, hanging off the end of the ice cream boat.

We weren't offering the use of a facility, but offering to pay to replace something that was contradictory as we were told that either BW or CRT (I can't remember when it was so which it was) couldn't afford to replace it.

[Mike Todd]

The Managing Company for the apartments has previously offered to pay for clearer, non-contradictory signs. You can moor there during the day - there are other places just yards either side of the building to moor overnight.

It is a couple of years since I last came through but the stretches either side of the mill are not particularly long nor able to take moorings. What has to be factored in is the cost of dredging and making the bank solid as well as moving a few signs.

 

The if the outcome of this issue is to increase the number of moorings in Saltaire then we will all have won.

[jonathanA]

The Managing Company for the apartments has previously offered to pay for clearer, non-contradictory signs. You can moor there during the day - there are other places just yards either side of the building to moor overnight.

 

I'm afraid there aren't - that's one of the problems and I speak from experience !!!

 

 

This also begs the question of why it would be fine for me to moor during the day and run engines, generators and have my stove going but come 6 pm I'm suddenly anti social ?

 

To be honest I wasn't that impressed with saltaire

[fanshaft]

It is a couple of years since I last came through but the stretches either side of the mill are not particularly long nor able to take moorings. What has to be factored in is the cost of dredging and making the bank solid as well as moving a few signs.

 

The if the outcome of this issue is to increase the number of moorings in Saltaire then we will all have won.

 

As I said earlier I was born and brought up very close to Saltaire and spent a lot of time in the village as a youngster. I still visit often, and it was walking the towpath between Hirst Lock and Saltaire with parents on a Sunday afternoon, prior to travelling on the Glen Tramway to sample the delights of Shipley Glen, which excited me at a very early age as to the potential of owning and operating a canal boat or barge, and this led to canal holidays from about 1960, my own boat while still a teenager, and a canal and waterway business from 1970.

Coal boats unloaded at the mill until about 1958 using rings, some of which still exist - albeit, as was the custom, mooring lines would be across the towpath (no-one worried about that). I moored there to load and unload passengers from 1971 (sometimes using a gang plank for the less able owing the the sloping wash wall), until the water bus stop was provided in, I think, 1982. Certainly other boats tied up there using the rings during this time.

As to today - it is possible to moor upstream, opposite the lovely church, ( a gang plank may be needed) and immediately downstream, and while the visitor moorings are fine for daytime mooring I personally wouldn't choose to moor over night or for any longer period due to the canyon effect and slight oppression of the mill buildings - it's nicer to be out in the open. It is unfortunate, however, that the wording of the sign was rather ill advised and certainly does give the give the impression that boats are not welcome at all in Saltaire.

Following representations by the West Riding IWA and members of the CRT NE Partnership (which takes a general cross boundary interest in the canal as far as Bingley) a site meeting last week was convened and the Trust operations manager has agreed to provide visitor moorings immediately below the length in question which will be available for over night stops - I don't know the time limit though - as soon as possible. We think depth will be OK but it will be tested in case dredging is needed. The existing moorings will still be available for daytime visits (I'd like to see th six hour limit dropped). If the new moorings are popular they could be extended.

So the net result will be an increase in mooring provision and an opportunity for extended stays so that people can spend their money in and around the village and enjoy its historical ambience and amenity - whether that be Victroria Hall and Salts Mill (which has an excellent Tourist Information facility) or Roberts Park and Shipley Glen.

Kind regards David L

Edited July 27, 2016 by fanshaft

[nbfiresprite]

You can clearly hear the traffic on the bridge from the moorings as can with the poor taste in music and TV programs coming from the flats when on the bridge.

 

Last time I moored here was in 1995 not long after mill had been converted, back then the towpath was was about 2 foot of concrete from the edge, then gravel over earth. Not long after I returned to the boat after visting my grandparents at about 7pm. There was aloud banging on the roof, Looking out the porthole I saw a group of people who were clearly looking for trouble. Fortunately someone had seen what was happen and had called the Police, Who were quick on the scene. These people were from the flats and were demanding that the ant-socal 'traveller' be move on. But in more colourfull language, which I will not repeat as lady's are present. I had not done anything ant-socal or was I a traveller. The Police ordered them move off and not return to towpath where I was. The Police did advice to move on futher up the canal as they may return. Which I did so.

 

In these days I did have company brick (Phone),But cell phone coverage was poor outside the City and I could not rely on someone seeing whats happen and calling the police, if they did return. Since then, if in the area I moor above Hirst Lock and walk down to the bridge over the river to get to my Grandmother place.

 

Maybe the best solution would be to brick up the windows facing the canal.

[Guest]

You can clearly hear the traffic on the bridge from the moorings as can with the poor taste in music and TV programs coming from the flats when on the bridge.

 

Last time I moored here was in 1995 not long after mill had been converted, back then the towpath was was about 2 foot of concrete from the edge, then gravel over earth. Not long after I returned to the boat after visting my grandparents at about 7pm. There was aloud banging on the roof, Looking out the porthole I saw a group of people who were clearly looking for trouble. Fortunately someone had seen what was happen and had called the Police, Who were quick on the scene. These people were from the flats and were demanding that the ant-socal 'traveller' be move on. But in more colourfull language, which I will not repeat as lady's are present. I had not done anything ant-socal or was I a traveller. The Police ordered them move off and not return to towpath where I was. The Police did advice to move on futher up the canal as they may return. Which I did so.

 

In these days I did have company brick (Phone),But cell phone coverage was poor outside the City and I could not rely on someone seeing whats happen and calling the police, if they did return. Since then, if in the area I moor above Hirst Lock and walk down to the bridge over the river to get to my Grandmother place.

 

Maybe the best solution would be to brick up the windows facing the canal.

It's really weird innit. Person living in high density housing complains about noise, but only noise from one particular source.

 

It would be like complaining about the noise from the road behind our house, but well, it was there when I moved here.

 

One thing regarding smoke really annoys me at home and that is the smoke from the local allotments. In the early autumn it's particularly annoying on warm ish evenings, it gets inside the house meaning I close the windows.

 

Have I complained about it? No, the allotments were there long before our 1994 estate was and having thought about it I could have reasonably foreseen it.

 

As Saltslad rather ironically said 'live and let live'

[Robbo]

I ask, with the greatest respect, do you understand these sentences? "....proposals to increase the number of moorings (WHICH I WELCOME)" and "The canal is for ALL - boaters, walkers, cyclists and residents."

 

All the towpath is available for moorings (although majority of the towpath in Saltaire is too shallow, especially towards Shipley), I don't see how you can increase it.

Edited July 28, 2016 by Robbo

[Mike Todd]

 

As I said earlier I was born and brought up very close to Saltaire and spent a lot of time in the village as a youngster. I still visit often, and it was walking the towpath between Hirst Lock and Saltaire with parents on a Sunday afternoon, prior to travelling on the Glen Tramway to sample the delights of Shipley Glen, which excited me at a very early age as to the potential of owning and operating a canal boat or barge, and this led to canal holidays from about 1960, my own boat while still a teenager, and a canal and waterway business from 1970.

Coal boats unloaded at the mill until about 1958 using rings, some of which still exist - albeit, as was the custom, mooring lines would be across the towpath (no-one worried about that). I moored there to load and unload passengers from 1971 (sometimes using a gang plank for the less able owing the the sloping wash wall), until the water bus stop was provided in, I think, 1982. Certainly other boats tied up there using the rings during this time.

As to today - it is possible to moor upstream, opposite the lovely church, ( a gang plank may be needed) and immediately downstream, and while the visitor moorings are fine for daytime mooring I personally wouldn't choose to moor over night or for any longer period due to the canyon effect and slight oppression of the mill buildings - it's nicer to be out in the open. It is unfortunate, however, that the wording of the sign was rather ill advised and certainly does give the give the impression that boats are not welcome at all in Saltaire.

Following representations by the West Riding IWA and members of the CRT NE Partnership (which takes a general cross boundary interest in the canal as far as Bingley) a site meeting last week was convened and the Trust operations manager has agreed to provide visitor moorings immediately below the length in question which will be available for over night stops - I don't know the time limit though - as soon as possible. We think depth will be OK but it will be tested in case dredging is needed. The existing moorings will still be available for daytime visits (I'd like to see th six hour limit dropped). If the new moorings are popular they could be extended.

So the net result will be an increase in mooring provision and an opportunity for extended stays so that people can spend their money in and around the village and enjoy its historical ambience and amenity - whether that be Victroria Hall and Salts Mill (which has an excellent Tourist Information facility) or Roberts Park and Shipley Glen.

Kind regards David L

From personal experience I can testify that the play space in Roberts Park is excellent for youngsters needing to work off some energy! Lovely photos to prove it! But it was a couple of years ago now.

 

Overall it sounds as though some sensible progress is being made. Negotiation rather than confrontation is often better.